Check out this interesting video spawned from a new navigation app called Waze. The video shows the ebb and flow (or lack thereof) of traffic in L.A. using data grabbed from users of the app. Lesson learned: if you want to avoid bad traffic in L.A., work the graveyard shift.

The Santa Monica City Council told the international development company Hines to go back to the drawing board with its proposed Bergamot Transit Village project. The Bergamot development was to be the first project to adhere to a new set of strict standards but city officials say the proposal – a “tall insular campus” – fails to meet these standards. Santa Monica was hoping for a village, critics said that Hines presented an office park.

The Economist’s tech blogger eschews planes and cars for a recent trip from Seattle to Portland, settling instead for what’s often referred to as “19th century technology” – the train. Not only is it cheaper than the alternatives, Amtrak’s Cascades line now offers something very appealing to a tech blogger on the go: free wi-fi.

I’m posting this story from New York City just to add some fuel to the bi-coastal New York vs. L.A. flame war. Sure, NYC may have the world’s premiere 24-hour subway system, but I’m happy to report that Metro has beat them to the punch on real-time bus arrival info. NYC MTA is planning on rolling out real-time arrival info on Staten Island routes by the end of this year, with a city-wide rollout in 2012 and 2013.